San Francisco bans plastic straws, allegedly to reduce pollution, but gives more than four million free needles to illegal drug addicts every year, which is a dangerous pollution problem
The government of San Francisco has banned plastic straws, allegedly in the name of reducing pollution.
Meanwhile, the same San Francisco government gives more than four million free needles to illegal drug addicts every year.
The alleged reason for the city banning straws is that they end up in the ocean.
However, this ban ignores these four facts:
1) The real issue is littering, not straws. If people put their straws in a proper waste disposal unit, they won’t end up in the ocean.
2) Plastic straws make up only 0.02% of the plastic waste in the ocean.
3) 90% of the plastic in the oceans comes from just 10 rivers – eight in Asia, and two in Africa.
4) People with disabilities need plastic straws. Before plastic straws were invented, people with disabilities aspirated liquid in their lungs, developed pneumonia, and died.
There is no evidence to show that the plastic straws used in San Francisco have ever been a threat to the environment. San Francisco’s ban on plastic straws is nothing more than a form of virtue signaling. It won’t do anything to help the environment.
Meanwhile, there is plenty of evidence to show that the more than four million free needles that San Francisco gives away every year are a threat.
The San Francisco affiliate of NBC News reported that there was an abundance of used illegal drug needles on the sidewalks of San Francsiso, even on the sidewalks that are used by preschool students. The mother of a three-year-old girl told NBC that she “often” had to pull her daughter away to prevent her from stepping on needles (as well as human poop) that were on the sidewalk.
KTVU reported that a second grade teacher taught her students not to touch the needles they see on the ground.
Dr. Lee Riley, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley, said of San Francisco’s needle problem:
“If you do get stuck with these disposed needles you can get HIV, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, and a variety of other viral diseases”
Regarding the needles (as well as the human poop) on the sidewalks in San Francisco, Dr. Riley said:
“The contamination is… much greater than communities in Brazil or Kenya or India”
On a global scale, the environmental Kuznets curve shows that richer cities tend to be much cleaner than poorer cities. The fact that San Francisco goes in the opposite direction of this trend is highly unusual.
Business Insider reported that at Starbucks locations all over the country (not just in San Francisco), employees who clean the bathroom have repeatedly expressed concerns after seeing drug needles in the trash and on the floor. Some employees have been accidentally stabbed with drug needles that were hidden in trash bags, and had to go to the doctor so they could take antiviral medications to protect themselves from the HIV and hepatitis viruses that might have been in the needles.
Clearly, the free needles that San Francisco gives to illegal drug addicts are a substantial safety risk to innocent, law abiding restaurant employees who are just trying to earn a living.
This problem would still exist even if the San Francisco government was not giving away free needles. But giving away more than four million free needles every year certainly makes the problem much worse than it would otherwise be.
Although every free needle comes with a plastic safety cap that can be used to cover up the dangerous tip of the needle, many illegal drug addicts toss these caps aside instead of putting them back on the tip of the needle.
Drug needles were cited as one of the reasons for the recent cancellation of a previously recurring medical convention which, in the past, had brought 15,000 conference attendees and $40 million worth of business to San Francisco during each previous event.
The needle problem is so bad that the San Francisco government recently hired ten new employees whose sole responsibility is to clean up these needles from the sidewalks and streets.
Meanwhile, there is no evidence that the plastic straws used by the people of San Francisco are a threat.
And yet, San Francisco has banned plastic straws, while giving away more than four million free needles to illegal drug addicts every year.
Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 